Israel to begin human testing of coronavirus vaccine

The Israel Institute for Biological Research will begin testing its vaccine for the novel coronavirus on humans in September, the Defense Ministry said, reports The Jerusalem Post.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited the Israel Institute for Biological Research on Thursday for an update on advances of its vaccine and antibody against the novel coronavirus.

"Experiments on humans should begin after the Tishrei holidays,” Gantz said. “I would like to thank you first of all, the people in the Defense Ministry and the people at the institute who are doing a fantastic job.

He said that the human trials would be conducted in collaboration with the Health Ministry and “according to all the processes required in terms of medical safety."

Professor Shmuel Shapira said that IIBR “set off six months ago” to develop the vaccine. He said that now it has developed “an excellent vaccine.”

“We will start safety and efficacy trials after the holidays,” Shapira said, “but we have a product in hand.”